Mother Load (16 page)

The flames licked at Anna’s fingers as she pulled the pot off the burner, where the boil-over had left a sticky mess. “I know that,” she said sharply. “Don’t you have homework? Something to watch on TV? Cars to play with?”

He shook his head. It was after six and what he wanted was dinner.

Lily’s greeting from the family room was a mixed blessing. Anna hated to have her find dinner in disarray, but her expert hand would put everything back on track. With a quick kiss to Anna’s cheek, she reached across the stove and turned down the dial. “Simmer is a two. Anything else will boil over.”

“Two…got it. The book didn’t say that.” She held up Cooking for Morons. “I guess they underestimated my ignorance.”

“It’s no big deal. What else are we having?”

“Meatloaf,” Anna said tentatively, peering through the oven door. “Except it looks like a brick sitting in a puddle of grease.”

“All meatloaf looks like that. Just lift it out while it’s hot and drain it.”

“It looks disgusting.”

“I bet it tastes wonderful.” Lily put her arms around Anna’s neck and gave her a proper kiss on the lips. “I’m so proud of you.”

For the most part, Anna was proud of herself too…except for the boil-over. “I nearly burned the house down.”

“But you didn’t, and now you know…”

“Simmer is a two.”

She had tossed a salad—something definitely within her comfort zone—and cut up strawberries for dessert. It wasn’t exactly gourmet, but it followed Lily’s simple menu of meat, vegetable, starch and fruit. She was keeping a vow to herself to take on the task of providing dinner on weeknights, venturing away from takeout for what was now the third time. She set the table as Lily looked over Andy’s schoolwork.

“What’s this?” Lily asked.

Anna spun around to see she had found the note from Mrs. Dooley. “She wants to see us on Monday morning.”

“I can’t go. I have to be in court for a divorce proceeding.” She pulled Andy into her lap. “What’s this about, bud?”

“I don’t know.” He rolled one of his toy cars across the kitchen table, not meeting her eye.

“That makes three of us,” Anna said. “Why do people always do this on a Friday? Now we have the whole weekend to wonder what’s up.”

“I vote we not worry about it until Monday. I didn’t bring any work home, and I hope the same goes for you.” She gave Andy a warm hug. “And I hope you’re done with your homework so you can relax with us too.”

Andy enjoyed the meatloaf and rice, though not the salad. Anna was thrilled to have pleased him without resorting to the dreaded macaroni and cheese, and even more thrilled that Lily wanted to cook on the weekends. That gave her two days to gear up for next week.

Lily stepped up to talk quietly while she cleaned the kitchen. “Andy wet the bed again last night. That’s six times in the last couple of months.”

“Did you talk to him about it?”

“Just a little bit. He doesn’t know why. I thought I’d take him to Dr. Engle for a checkup, but I don’t want him to feel a lot of pressure about it.” She looked back to double-check that Andy was out of earshot. “Have you noticed him acting different or anything?”

“No, I think he likes me picking him up after school, and we got some new training videos on the 6 series that he loves.” He especially liked coming to the dealership now that her father was working there too.

“I don’t think it has anything to do with you picking him up because you’ve only been doing it for a couple of weeks. He started wetting the bed again right after Christmas, remember?”

“You think it’s the babies?”

Lily shook her head. “I don’t know, but if it is, it’s a delayed reaction. He was so excited after Thanksgiving that it was all he could talk about.”

“But he’s not talking about it anymore. Maybe someone at school said something and got him upset.”

“Or that nephew of ours. I wouldn’t put anything past Jonah.” She hooked Anna’s arm as they walked toward the family room. “Maybe we should talk to him again…ask him how he’s feeling about it.”

Anna nudged Andy from behind as he played with his toy cars. “Hey, pal. Go put your swim trunks on. Let’s all get in the hot tub.”

She didn’t have to ask twice, as he was off in a footrace with Chester to his bedroom.

“You have the best ideas,” Lily said as she changed into one of Anna’s swimsuits, which fit her better because of its long stretchy waist. “This is the perfect way to end a week.”

For a fleeting moment, Anna felt nostalgic for the days when she and Lily had the run of the house. They wouldn’t have bothered with their suits, and probably would have made love in the water.

“Wait for me!” Andy called as he hurried down the stairs.

A wave of guilt pushed her reminiscence away. She wouldn’t trade anything for the life they had with Andy, or the one their twins would bring.

“Andy, have you seen Mama’s tummy? The babies are getting big.”

“I know,” he said just before he submerged in the warm, churning water. When he came back up, he began jabbering about his bike. He wanted to ride on Saturday and Lily quickly agreed.

“Have you thought anymore about your new brother or sister?”

“No.”

“Do you wish for two brothers, two sisters or a brother and a sister?”

“Two…sisters, ’cause I won’t have to share my cars.”

Lily chuckled. “Sisters might play with cars too, Andy. Your mom played with cars when she was a little girl, and she grew up to sell BMWs. How would you like it if your brothers or sisters came to work with you in Mom’s office when you all grew up?”

Anna added, “You might even get to be the boss, because you’re the big brother.”

“I want to be the boss like Grandpa.” He went under again and came back up. “And I’ll go live with him in the Big House.”

“You mean when you get to be the boss?”

“When my brothers and sisters come.”

Anna tugged him into her lap. “What’s this, pal? You don’t want to live here with Mama and me when the babies come?”

“No, because you’ll play with them and not me.”

“Where on earth did you get that idea?”

“You said we couldn’t get a puppy like Peanut because then we wouldn’t play with Chester.” He explained his reasoning in earnest. “So when the babies come, that means you won’t play with me anymore, but if I go live with Grandpa he can play with me.”

Anna’s heart nearly broke to hear how he had worked out his insecurities. How stupid she had been not to realize he would make such an association. “Andy, you goofball. Dogs aren’t like little children. Mama and I will never stop playing with you.”

Lily leaned over to nuzzle him. “That’s right. Mom and I will have two more babies to play with, but guess what? So will you.”

“And they’re going to love you, pal.”

The relief on his face was unmistakable, and he immediately set to talking about all the things they would do together. When she tucked him into bed, he seemed especially loving to Chester, the faithful hound who followed him everywhere. “Do you think Chester will like the babies too?”

The old hound liked everyone, but at his advancing age it was hard to imagine he would bond with the little ones the way he had with Andy. “I think he will, but I have a feeling you’ll always be his best friend.”

Anna walked timidly through the hallway of Andy’s school with him by her side, feeling as though she had been summoned to the principal’s office. When they reached his classroom she stopped and drew a deep breath. It was a conference, not an arraignment. Mrs. Dooley could not hurt her.

“Hello, Mrs. Dooley?”

“Ms. Kaklis, come in.” Not hello. Not please. Just come in. At full height the woman came only to Anna’s chin, but that mattered naught. The sternness of her voice was positively chilling.

Anna squeezed Andy’s hand, as much to get his support as to give it.

Mrs. Dooley turned her sharp gaze on Andy. “Andres, in the book corner there is a story of a boy with your name. Find it.” She gestured to an adult-sized straight-back chair positioned next to her desk and ordered Anna to sit.

Anna’s feet could not have moved fast enough. She sat anxiously as the woman reviewed her notes, which were indecipherable upside down despite the perfect penmanship. “How can we help you with Andy?”

Mrs. Dooley removed her glasses and looked at her intently. “I have observed several changes recently in Andres.”

“Yes, we’ve seen a few ourselves. In fact, just this weekend—”

“Let me show you something.” She abruptly marched to a shelf of bins, one of which was marked Andres Kaklis. It was filled to the brim with pencils, crayons, markers and other art supplies.

“Wow, that’s a lot of stuff.”

“It’s a month’s supply—for the entire class.”

She closed the bin and led Anna into the cloakroom, where a coat of Andy’s she hadn’t seen for weeks was slung over a box. “And there’s this.”

Anna bent down to examine the contents of the box. It was toy cars, over half of Andy’s collection from home. “What’s all this?”

“Your son collects things, as many things as he can get his hands on. He hides them away so other children can’t use them. I’ve seen that before with school supplies, but I’ve never had a child bring his toys to school to hide them.”

Anna recalled the story of when Lily first met Andy in foster care. He had rounded up all the toy cars in the house and hidden them under his bed. Given his return to bedwetting, it seemed his emotional setback was even greater than they thought. It saddened her to think how frightened he was at losing his newfound security.

“We’ve had some changes at home. My wife is pregnant with twins and we just learned over the weekend that Andy has been worrying about what that meant for him.”

Mrs. Dooley’s dark eyes flashed with irritation and Anna bristled immediately that the woman might have taken offense at their lesbian relationship. Instead she huffed and lifted her face as if talking to the heavens. “Why on earth do parents think such things are of no consequence to their child’s learning?” She glared at Anna and shook a finger. “When parents entrust their children to me, I expect them to be partners.”

“But we are,” Anna argued, realizing she had backed up against the wall of the cloakroom. “We read to him every night. We check his homework and put his pictures up all over the house. What more could we do?”

“Partnerships work two ways, Ms. Kaklis. Parents expect me to apprise them of every little thing their child does in school, but for some reason think what they do at home isn’t any of my business. We have to communicate,” she said, pounding her fist into her palm for emphasis. “How else can we help one another bring out his best?”

Anna’s ire deflated at the teacher’s words. Mrs. Dooley was undeniably intense, but she seemed to genuinely care about Andy’s well-being. It was impossible not to feel lucky he had landed in her class. “We talked things out this weekend, and I think you’ll see him start to settle down. He isn’t usually a selfish child when it comes to sharing things. But when he was in foster care—”

“Foster care?”

Anna sighed. “Clearly we have much to talk about. I apologize that we haven’t shared these things about our son, but we were worried he might be stigmatized by his past. Now that you and I have talked, I’m not worried about that anymore. I can see you have his best interests at heart.”

They returned to the desk where Anna filled in the gaps of Andy’s heart-wrenching story. Mrs. Dooley listened with great interest, and when he timidly approached her desk holding a book, she actually smiled.

“I see you found it. You’ll be reading on your own before we know it. Now set it on my reading table and we’ll start it after lunch.”

Andy beamed with pride at her praise, showing off the gap where his canine tooth had been.

Anna caught his arm as he started across the room. “Hey, pal. Mrs. Dooley tells me the other children in your class are running out of pencils and crayons and things. How about you put those that you’ve saved in your bin back where the other children can share?” She winked at the teacher in a show of solidarity. “I also noticed you brought a lot of your cars to school. I’m going to take them home today. Toys aren’t for school.”

He nodded solemnly and she pulled him closer.

“Everything is going to be okay now. I just told Mrs. Dooley all about our new babies and how much fun we’re going to have together when they get here.”

“It’s very exciting news, Andres. I’m certain you’ll be a wonderful big brother.”

As she walked toward the door with the teacher, Anna realized she was no longer intimidated. “Thank you very much for your interest in Andy. We promise to be better partners and keep you informed of the important things in his life, and we’ll keep holding up our end with the reading and homework.”

The teacher smiled. “Your son is a delight in the classroom, Ms. Kaklis. You and his other mother have done a terrific job, and I hope I’m lucky enough to have two more just like him in my class someday.”

Anna walked to her car, beaming just like Andy from the teacher’s praise.

Lily grabbed her insulated lunch bag from the bottom drawer of her desk and hurried out toward the park where Sandy was waiting. She didn’t care what people thought of the slip-on sneakers she wore with her business pantsuit. Those people could tie their own shoes without taking a header.

She collapsed on the bench, knees spread, feet planted. “Do you ever wonder why the legal profession attracts so many assholes?”

“All the freaking time. What’s up?”

“I just got an e-mail from Rod Samuels. Now that he’s denied Maria bail for five weeks, he’s decided to reduce the charges to second-degree murder. He wants her to plead in exchange for ten years in prison, which is only five if she gets off for good behavior.”

“Some people have nerve to burn. I hope you told him to shove it.”

“I have to talk it over with Maria, but no matter what she says, I’m not going to answer him right away. That way he can think I’m considering it but he still has to prepare for trial all weekend. Then on Sunday night, I’ll send him an e-mail just before I go to bed. ‘Sorry, just saw this. No can do.’”